Wonderland "T.V. Cartoons" LP up at Way Out Junk

[samtheq]

http://wayoutjunk.blogspot.com/2007/06/music-and-stories-from-original-hit-tv.html

The often-great blog "Way Out Junk" has this very strange record up this week. I bring this up here not just because of the obvious tie-ins with TTTP, but to point out a few things:

1) The cover is just amazing. It should win a "Worst PD Art" award on its own! Note the typos such as "Henry Hawk" (understandable to those who aren't in the know)...but, PEPE LE PEPE???? Sheesh! And dig Boris Badenov...

2) Obviously this is a mish-mash of several LP's--does anybody know the name of the Rocky and Bullwinkle LP, and have info as to when it was released? Hopefully the whole LP will be up soon, from the looks of the comments!

3) If this is from official sources, why all the p*ss-poor imitations? The Merrie Melodies track sounds like somebody imitating Larry Storch imitating Mel Blanc, on a bad day even. It will make you cringe. And the HB tracks aren't much better! Come to think of it, I have seen some vintage HB records that had sound-alikes, unfortunately. Hardly seems worth putting an LP out, considering back in the day it was the only way for a kid to hear his favorite cartoon character (when they weren't on TV), and even my 3-year old could tell the difference here...

4) Oddly enough, I grew up hearing this version of the Popeye song, my mother had the Golden record...it took my by surprise to hear it here. It does sound too sped up, but like someone said, I think it's the genuine article.

I did enjoy the R&B tracks, and it was worth the download for those. Enjoy...and cringe with revulsion, all on the same record.

brant

[Jon Cooke]

I downloaded this record earlier this evening. I believe all the tracks are from various Golden Records (I am 100% the Woody and Merrie Melodies tracks are).

[MarkTheShark]

Just have to jump in here, because I actually had this record as a kid! My dad bought it for me when I was maybe 5 or 6 years old (I'm gonna say around 1973) and I believe the material is all several years older than that, recycled from previous records. As I am typing this, I have not yet gone to the site and I have not looked at nor listened to this album in years...the Rocky & Bullwinkle material was great, as I recall...including some "new to vinyl" bits with R&B, and what I believe was the original soundtrack of an actual Fractured Fairy Tale. But where the end title would be, there were voices singing the FFT theme song with lyrics (one of the voices being June Foray if I'm not mistaken).

I believe this version of the "Flintstones" theme actually ended up on a Rhino CD at one point (probably their Flintstones-specific one).

As a kid, I wasn't familiar with the original "Huckleberry Hound" opening theme, but we had some other album from a Pickwick-subsidiary (cheapo) label called "Happy Time Records" and both that album and this one had versions of the Huckleberry Hound theme, both of which had different lyrics (I wonder which one--if either--had the originals; I guess once I hear it, I'll know). I do remember (oddly enough) that in one version, one lyric line was changed to "Your friends will all be there, there's Jinks and Yogi Bear."

The Looney Tunes characters were not voiced by Mel Blanc, and as I recall, my memory is that Bugs Bunny's voice had a trace of a British accent!

Looking forward to checking it out.

[MarkTheShark]

3) If this is from official sources, why all the p*ss-poor imitations? The Merrie Melodies track sounds like somebody imitating Larry Storch imitating Mel Blanc, on a bad day even. It will make you cringe. And the HB tracks aren't much better! Come to think of it, I have seen some vintage HB records that had sound-alikes, unfortunately.

Which is what led to Howard Morris cussing out Joe Barbera and abruptly quitting the studio to go work at Filmation!

[David Gerstein]

I believe this version of the "Flintstones" theme actually ended up on a Rhino CD at one point (probably their Flintstones-specific one).Though I don't have all of my references handy, I recollect that this is actually the original version of the Flintstones theme, initially issued on vinyl during the first or second season of the show (at a time when the wordless "Rise and Shine" was still the opening theme on TV).
Interesting to hear the use of "scooba-dooba-doo" [sic] this early in the Hanna-Barbera oeuvre.

Re: the other records—interesting to hear what seem to be words to the Snagglepuss theme song, though who knows if they were composed after the fact? Tune isn't quite the same, but the same melodic turn that matches the phrase "king of the jungle" is certainly all over the instrumental version played in the cartoons.
Oh, and there's a special place in hell reserved for those Merrie Melodies ringers. With the sole exception of Elmer Fudd, I've never heard less accurate (or pleasant!) impressions of Bugs and the gang.

[MarkTheShark]

Looking at the cover again after all these years, another question strikes me...

What is Yakky Doodle's face doing next to the write-up on "Merrie Melodies?"

[gdX]

Good gawd – that was horrible!

"T.V. Cartoons" stole 30:02 of my life and I want it back.

One interesting bit, though... does anybody else think it's Mel Blanc doing Blabbermouse's vocal?... (even though it doesn't remotely resemble the original character)

:confused:

[wayoutjunk]

I'm Tony and I run the Way Out Junk website. Thanks for the mention.

I just wanted to let you guys know if you want to get the R&B stuff without wading through the other things on this record, I've got great news for you! One of my readers sent me the "Rocky and His Friends" album and you can now get it here at http://wayoutjunk.blogspot.com/2007/06/rocky-his-friends.html

It includes more great stuff like another Mr. Peabody episode as well as songs from Mr. Peabody, Sherman, and Gidney & Cloyd (The Moon Men)!

(And sorry about your ordeal, gdX!) ;)

Tony
Way Out Junk

[cpdavison]

Hey, Tony!

Welcome to the forum and thanks for having created (and for maintaining) such an enjoyable blog. I hope the hightened profile doesn't lead to your files getting pulled and your having to pull a "mondodaddykin" on us.

Keep up the good work!

Craig D.

[gdX]

(And sorry about your ordeal, gdX!) ;)Hey, thanks Tony... I'm doing better now, a full recovery is expected.

Lotsa funky fun stuff on your blog.

Cheers.

:bosko: